Ignored Form of Cholesterol Blamed for Heart Attacks

Danish researchers said on Tuesday they have found the strongest evidence yet that an often ignored form of cholesterol can cause heart attacks.

They said people with higher levels of a little-understood form of cholesterol called lipoprotein (a), which varies up to a thousand fold from one person to another, were also more likely to have heart attacks.

Statins -- taken by millions to cut heart attack and stroke risk -- do not affect lipoprotein (a) but the findings may encourage the development of new cholesterol-lowering drugs, said Borge Nordestgaard of Copenhagen University Hospital, who led the study.

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FDA Releases List of Potential Drug Risks

U.S. regulators on Thursday listed two dozen drugs, including weight-loss medicines and sleep disorder pills, that it is reviewing for potential safety problems.

Many of the issues have been disclosed previously, but the Food and Drug Administration continues to review them.

The FDA is checking Pfizer Inc.'s smoking cessation drug Chantix for possible risk of accidental injury, vision impairment and other issues, and Cephalon Inc.'s sleep disorder drugs Nuvigil and Provigil for a potential of serious skin reactions.

Other drugs listed included orlistat, a weight-loss drug that Roche Inc. sells as the prescription product Xenical and GlaxoSmithKline Plc sells as the over-the-counter drug Alli. The FDA said it is continuing to evaluate liver toxicity reports for orlistat. MORE>>>>>>>>>>>

Turmeric May Help Prevent Alzheimer’s

Turmeric, which is called the spice of life in ancient Indian lore, might help fight Alzheimer’s, according to initial stages of a study.

The spice is an integral ingredient in curry, and tests on laboratory rats have provided evidence that curry helps prevent dementia.

A human clinical trial is under way in California.

Murali Doraiswamy, director of the mental fitness laboratory at the Duke University Medical Center's psychiatry department, told a conference that curcumin, an element of turmeric, appears to prevent the accumulation of amyloid plaques. The plaques are toxic proteins found in the brains of Alzheimer’s victims and are a key characteristic of the disease. The plaques are thought to interfere with the electrical signals between brain cells. MORE>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Cherry Juice May Be New Sports Drink

Drinking cherry juice could help ease the pain for people who run, according to new research from Oregon Health & Science University presented at the American College of Sports Medicine Conference in Seattle, Wash.

The study showed that people who drank tart cherry juice while training for a long-distance run reported significantly less pain after exercise than those who didn't. Post-exercise pain often can indicate muscle damage or debilitating injuries. MORE>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Vitamin D May Make Seniors Smarter

Getting more of the "Sunshine vitamin" may make you brighter later in life, according to a study that bolsters evidence vitamin D may help older people stay mentally fit.

The findings also raise the prospect that people who do not get enough of the vitamin could use supplements to keep the brain fully functioning as they age, David Lee and colleagues at the University of Manchester reported in their study, published Thursday in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

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Certain foods may thwart age-related vision loss

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study suggests that older adults who eat diets rich in citrus fruits, leafy greens and fish oil, but low in "glycemic index," may have a lower risk of age-related macular degeneration -- the leading cause of vision loss among older U.S. adults.

AMD, also known as "age-related macular degeneration" refers to gradual damage to the macula, a structure in the retina that allows for seeing fine detail. The condition affects more than 1 million Americans, usually after the age of 65.

A number of studies have suggested that individual nutrients, including the antioxidants lutein, vitamin C and vitamin E, can help protect against AMD. This latest study, published in the journal Ophthalmology, looked at the overall diet patterns of 4,000 older adults and the links to AMD risk.

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Ancient Drug Kava Could Be Safe and Effective

Australian researchers have found that a traditional preparation of the South Pacific herbal medicine Kava, an ancient drug long used for treating stress and insomnia, is safe and effective. A University of Queensland research team conducted a placebo-controlled, world-first clinical trial. It showed that Kava prepared by the traditional method, which uses water, is safe for treating anxiety and improving mood, while the modern European method of preparation, which uses acetone and ethanol, may be responsible for the ill side effects associated with it. MORE>>>>>>>>>>>

Smoking May Boost Fat-Fighting Gene

Offering clues to why smokers often gain weight after quitting, a new study suggests that smoking enhances the activity of a gene that helps break down body fat.

Researchers found that compared with non-smokers, a group of healthy smokers showed greater activity in a gene called AZGP1 in cell samples taken from their airways.

Because the gene is thought to be important in breaking down fat and controlling weight, the findings point to one possible reason that smokers tend to weigh less than non-smokers -- and why people often put on pounds after quitting. MORE>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Formaldehyde Raises Risk of Deadly Cancers

Industrial workers who are exposed to the chemical formaldehyde may have a significantly higher risk of dying from blood and lymphatic cancers, U.S. government researchers said on Tuesday.

A study of more than 25,000 workers at industrial plants that produced formaldehyde and formaldehyde resin found workers with the highest exposures had a 37 percent increased risk of death compared to those with the lowest exposure levels, they reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. MORE>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Put on Your Broccoli: Juice Better Than Sunscreen

An extract made from broccoli sprouts can help protect skin from the sun’s damaging rays, according to researchers at the John Hopkins School of Medicine.

Although a commercial product is still in the early stages of development, it would have definite advantages over sunscreens:

First, the natural product would not contain cancer-causing chemicals found in typical sunscreens. Second, it would not interfere with the body’s production of vitamin D. Sunscreens now block sunlight from the skin, thus keeping the body from making vitamin D.

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